It is often assumed that rolling out an anti bribery compliance policy in a high risk jurisdiction will be met with derision by the locals:

“there’s no point – it’s just the way you have to do business if you want to get anything done here”.

But you’d be wrong.

You may be surprised to learn that the roll out and implementation of a tough anti-bribery policy is often welcomed by staff in far flung places.

Not derided.

Why? Because the local employees don’t like being placed in a situation which leaves them open to having their arms twisted by colleagues, clients and officials to doing something which violates a corporate anti-bribery policy (and local law) because of wishy washy implementation.

Put another way, they don’t like feeling trapped knowing if they have to pay the bribe they’ll violate corporate policy (and local law) even if nothing will likely happen to them *but* that if they don’t pay the bribe and lose the sale they *will* get fired.

A clear policy with strong tone from the top provides no room for doubt. It provides employees with the ammunition they need to refuse the order from a customer or colleague to ‘just get it done’ [without caring how] or the demand from an official for a bribe – with a simple “no”.

Hand gestures are optional.

Contrary to what you might think, they tell us: a strong anti-bribery policy makes their life a lot easier.

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